ADEL Bios

Salem Afeworki is a seasoned sustainability leader who is passionate about making a positive impact locally and globally. Salem is the first Energy and Sustainability Manager for the City of Costa Mesa and is responsible for developing and implementing sustainability programs citywide. Prior to joining the City, she founded Value Sustainability, a boutique consultancy that specializes in climate change and community engagement services based in Southern California.

Samira K. Azzam is a manager of global government relations at Accenture, a Fortune Global 500 consulting and technology company. 

Jessica Berlin is the founder and managing director of CoStruct, a strategy consultancy working at the intersection of business, technology, and economic development. CoStruct consults public, private, and nonprofit organizations on innovation strategy, program design for tech and entrepreneurship initiatives, and market entry in emerging and frontier markets.

Nicola Bilotta is currently researcher at IAI where he works on international political economy, digital economy and geo-finance. 

Cristian Botan is a digital entrepreneur and open government activist. After two years working on anti-corruption for Transparency International, Cristian launched an innovative, award-winning digital initiative aimed at combating nepotism in public sector recruitment in Romania.

Anabella C Ron graduated as both an economist and industrial engineer, since then her professional and academic career have been focused on International Development. 

Chiara Cocchiara is a System Operations Engineer at EUMETSAT, preparing future Earth Observation Space Missions to monitor weather and climate. She was awarded the MIT Innovator Under35 and the ESNC Prizes for a new drone technology design to help saving human lives, especially the immigrants in the Mediterranean Sea.

Cosmin Buteică has 12+ years of professional experience in international development and International Financial Institutions and is currently Senior Environmental Specialist in the World Bank’s Europe and Central Asia region of the Environment, Natural Resources, and Blue Economy Global Practice.

Jerome Cowans is a Project Manager and Strategist working as Jamaica House Fellow in the Office of the Prime Minister - Jamaica. He manages the Government's flagship youth employment programme - HOPE, which engages thousands of young people in training and employment opportunities.

Rachid Dahbi is the co-founder of Averty Market Research and Intelligence. He began his career with Hewlett-Packard as an HP.com country manager for Africa, where he was responsible for online lead generation and regional marketing campaigns.

Cire Ba is Executive Director, CIRTECH-CTC and has over six years of experience in political consulting. After the completion of his master’s degree in management studies from the Bordeaux Management School, he began his professional career in the management of development projects before specializing in public communications. 

Mohamed El Dahshan is managing director of OXCON, a research and consulting firm working on issues of economic and social development in the Middle East and Africa, with a focus on fragile and post-conflict countries. He is also a Fellow at Chatham House and the Tahrir Institute for Middle East Policy (TIMEP).

Dr. Fang Xiao is the deputy director of the Center for European Studies at the Shanghai Institutes for International Studies (SIIS). She was also a visiting fellow with the Freeman Chair in China Studies at The Center for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS) starting in January 2013 as a visiting fellow with Friedrich Ebert Stiftung EU office.

Andy Gboka joined Exotix in March 2011 as an equity analyst covering the brewing and cement sectors in sub-Saharan Africa, not including South Africa. 

Dr. El Mostafa Jamea is a senior researcher and consultant at the MENARES research institute in Casablanca. 

Quentin James is the African Americans director for the Ready for Hillary political action committee (PAC). There he manages engagement with the African American community throughout the United States to build momentum for a Hillary Clinton presidential run. Formerly, Quentin served as the national director for the Sierra Student Coalition, the youth arm of the Sierra Club and the largest youth environmental organization in the United States. 

Bako Kantiok is the coordinator of the Greetings from America radio program, an initiative that promotes cultural understanding between the United States and Nigeria. Prior to this position, he was a program officer at Fantsuam Foundation, a Nigerian NGO that specializes in community development.

Carlos León is an economic consultant in the Inter-American Development Bank’s Fiscal and Municipal Management Division in Washington, DC. He focuses on public-private partnerships, fiscal risks, financial instruments, and trust funds for the public sector. 

Blanche Leridon has been Head of Operations at the Paris-based think tank Institut Montaigne since June 2017. She coordinates all editorial and event activities of Institut Montaigne. She is also in charge of relations with the governance and Montaigne’s Board members.

Lungile Mahluza is currently the chief of staff to the Deloitte Africa chief executive in Johannesburg, South Africa. Prior to this, she was a senior manager in the Deloitte Africa Consulting practice. 

Anand Reddi is a global health specialist at Gilead Sciences, Inc., a major multinational biotechnology company that focuses on the discovery, development, and commercialization of innovative medicines.

Andrea Richter serves as chief of staff to the special envoy and coordinator for international energy affairs in the Bureau of Energy Resources (ENR) at the U.S. Department of State. 

Ritika Passi is Fellow at ORF. She works on connectivity, tracking developments across Eurasia and the Indo-Pacific, the changing global economic order and its geopolitical impact, and Indian foreign policy

Mbuih Zukane has 11 years of experience, working as a senior youth worker and an international cooperation expert. He lectures youth leadership as a transversal course in the University of Dschang-Cameroon.

Dina Abdel-Fattah is an associate with Development Gateway, where she is responsible for managing, implementing, and coordinating multiple projects, with an emphasis on incorporating geospatial tools for information management. 

Nejat Abdella works as an analyst at Dalberg Advisers, a leading strategy consulting firm focused on international development based in Addis Ababa. At Dalberg, Nejat specializes in the areas of humanitarian assistance, food security and migration.

Rakan Aboneaaj is a research associate on the Sustainable Development Finance team at the Center for Global Development, where he focuses on multilateral development bank reform and climate finance. He also consults on the World Bank’s Private Capital Facilitation unit. Previously, he worked at Altman Solon, a strategy consulting firm, and the Center for Strategic & International Studies.

Sadé Abraham is a learning scientist and pipeline initiative strategist committed to supporting the underserved in our education pipeline.

Carolina Abrusci is a professor at the Central University of Venezuela’s School of Political and Administrative Studies. She has a master's degree in international politics from the Complutense University of Madrid and is currently a Ph.D.

Nitika Agarwal is a senior policy advisor to the government of the United Kingdom, where she represents the U.K. in negotiations with other European Union member states on financial services, and coordinates the HMT’s policy on international economic issues. 

Megha Aggarwal is the co-founder and CEO of LEAP Skills Academy. LEAP stands for Learning, Employability and Progress, and was founded to create opportunities and enable employment for motivated students in small towns in India. 

Sergio Aguiar Matos is director for New Business Development & Consulting for Brasilinvest Group, Brazil’s foremost merchant and investment bank. He is also head of projects for Fórum das Américas, the group's NGO. He graduated, respectively, from Fundação Casper Libero, the country’s first school of journalism, and Mackenzie Presbyterian University, one of Brazil’s most prestigious law schools founded in 1870. He holds an MBA degree from Fundação Armando Alvares Penteado.

Patricia AHANDA is a Consultant and a French politician, expert on issues of equality, leadership and female entrepreneurship. She graduated in Political Sciences, Geopolitics, Law and Communication. She started in politics at the age of 16, becoming involved in the issue of youth participation in politics. In 2011, she joined François Hollande's presidential campaign team in the Campaign Management.

Fatma Ahmed is currently the Capacity Building Specialist at UNDP Regional Program for Africa, based in Addis Ababa where she implements flagship projects on conflict prevention, peacebuilding, political transitions, climate security and other emerging development challenges and priorities with the African Union and regional

Ms Teocah Arieal Ainka Dove is a Social Extrapreneur and Social-Impact Storyteller.

Ilham Ait Bouazza is head of the partnerships department at the National Institute of Posts and Telecommunications in Rabat, Morocco.

Jihane Ajijti works for OCP SA as the head of project and development for Southern Africa. She is a graduate of HEC Paris (Ecole des Hautes Etudes Commerciales) and a candidate of Africa Business school executive master’s in business administration partnership with Columbia Business school. 

She ROARs is empowering female leaders across Africa. Having lived and worked across 5 continents, Chidiogo speaks 7 languages (Chinese, English, French, German, Igbo, Italian and Spanish). She is a World Economic Forum Global Leadership Fellow; and Associate Fellow of Nigerian Leadership Initiative.

Ahmed AlAhwal Tarek is an architect with academic and professional experience in urban development. 

Lina Alaoui is currently a senior consultant in program risk management with Ernst & Young Advisory Services in Atlanta, Georgia. She is responsible for conducting independent program reviews for large IT implementations across multiple industries. She also conducts complexity and maturity assessment for IT projects and sales deals. Prior to this position, she was a senior consultant in telecommunications with Capgemini.

Marianna Albuquerque is the Deputy Director of Projects at the Brazilian Center for International Relations (CEBRI). She was a substitute professor at the Institute for Strategic Studies (INEST-UFF) between 2017 and 2019, a consultant for projects in Think Tanks, and coordinator of the South American Political Observatory (OPSA/UERJ).

Yusuf was appointed to serve as a Commissioner by the President of the Federal Republic of Nigeria at the Nigerian Electricity Regulatory Commission (NERC) in March 2022.

Noura Alj is currently managing Director of King Génération (Moroccan import and distribution company). Previously, she was project manager for a leading food industry group in Casablanca, Morocco. Prior to that she was part of a business unit implementation at Henry Schein, a leading medical distributor present in over 190 countries, that offers industry-leading solutions and services for dental practices in the UK.

Taha Amiar is a sustainability analyst and the co-founder of Massolia.com, an initiative to foster North Africa’s commitment to renewable energy, waste management, water, and corporate social responsibility. 

Katrina Amupolo is the Business Development Coordinator for the Swakopmund Community Skills Development Centre. She has experience in empowering youth and women through entrepreneurship, skills training and mentorship.   Katrina founded the Empowering Erongo Young Women Project, a  project which offers job readiness training, mentorship and career guidance to unemployed  young women in the Erongo Region, Namibia.

Francis Anyaegbu is the founder and CEO of Farm Allure, a Nigerian agricultural start-up company, and the African regional representative to the UN-HABITAT’s Youth Advisory Board. He is a seasoned youth development trainer and development consultant who has worked in multiple capacities for a host of international organizations.

Abrão Neto is a foreign trade analyst with the Brazilian government; he currently serves as an advisor to the secretary of foreign trade. 

Sihame Arbib is currently the chief executive officer of Victory Consulting, advisor to the undersecretary general of United Nations and partner of the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) Economic Forum.

As the regional manager for West and North Africa for EnergyNet, Valeria Aruffo currently works with governments across West and North Africa promoting investment into the energy, electricity, and infrastructure sectors with a clear focus on energy access and economic development in Africa through project implementation, climate finance, technology transfer, and capacity building. 

Asim Ali has an extensive background in the Middle East, human rights, countering violent extremism, and public private partnerships. Asim is currently working as a Foreign Affairs Officer in the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labor of the U.S. Department of State.

Eric Asmar is the CEO of Happy Smala, a consulting firm and startup studio in Rabat, Morocco specialized in innovation and collaborative finance. Prior to this, he served as Director of Programs at the Moroccan Center for Innovation and Social Entrepreneurship, where he launched Dare Inc., Morocco’s first social enterprise incubator.

Internationalist with over 15 years of experience in international cultural cooperation, working mainly on policy-making, cultural diplomacy, cultural and creative industries and cultural heritage, with a wide knowledge of geo-policy and global agenda, as well as cultural topics and soft power.

Foster Awintiti Akugri heads a non-profit organization, focused on preparing the youth for future jobs. Impacting over 3000 youth since its inception and through its partnership with IBM, Hacklab Foundation hopes to reach over 100,000 youth by 2021.

Macarena Ayelen Acuipil is currently an advocate for gender equality. She is a Program Coordinator for the Women's Democracy Network in Argentina, where young female candidates are empowered to step in and take decisive roles in the political arena. She is also working as Chief of Advisors to the Senator of her hometown province of Chubut and as a professor in Gender Studies at the Siglo XXI University.

Khadijetou Ba is a citizen activist passionate about pan-Africanism and governance. She is a founding member of Leadership-Ethics-Governance and Strategies for Africa (LEGS-AFRICA), a Senegal-based CSO that promotes leadership qualities for Africans and a thinking model based on African values and principles. 

Felizia Bacall is a consultant in Bridgespan’s Boston office. Before joining Bridgespan, she worked as research analyst for the Finance Department of the International Monetary Fund in Washington, DC.

Aïcha Baldé is currently an analyst for the Threat Assessment Division for Global Affairs Canada in Ottawa, Canada. Before this, she was a Socio-economic analyst for the Pan-Africa Affairs division at Global Affairs Canada, where she would prepare briefing notes for ministers focused on reactive files for climate change, climate finance, biodiversity, gender equality components and renewable energy in sub-Saharan Africa.

Ms. Nicola Barker-Murphy has been a member of Jamaica’s Foreign Service for nineteen (19) years serving in the areas of bilateral and multilateral affairs and trade.

Ruben Barnabas Djogbenou is currently a consultant for the African Futures Institute and the Bureau of the Special Adviser of the Prime Minister of Senegal. Prior to that he served as Consultant and Project Manager in a consulting firm, where he was in charge of conducting research projects in long term development and strategic planning.

Ana Paula Barreto (she/hers) is the Director of Programs for AfroResistance in New York. She has a masters of Arts in International affairs and she is a fellow of the United Nations Fellowship Program for People of African descent. Ana is an activist and researcher on race, gender, global health and inequalities with special focus on Black women and girls. 

Ana Barufi holds a Ph.D. in Economics from the University of São Paulo and is a Research and Innovation Manager at Bradesco Bank, in Brazil. She is also a visiting assistant professor at the Economics Department of the Federal University of São Paulo. Her research focuses on Regional and Urban Economics.

Laura Basagni is a program coordinator at The German Marshall Fund of the United States (GMF) in Brussels.

She coordinates GMF’s portfolio on North-South and South-South cooperation, focusing on the Mediterranean and the wider Atlantic regions. Her research interests are EU foreign and trade policy, and the future of governance. She leads the organization of GMF’s Atlantic Strategy Group meetings, and coordinates the Brussels chapter of GMF’s Young Transatlantic Network (YTN.)

Pauline Batista works at the United Nations in New York, where she serves as a Media Production Assistant for the Global Communications Division. Her research interests include UNESCO’s influence over educational curricula in Latin America and also the exploitation of Paulo Freire’s Socratic method to reinforce standards for Heritage Studies in schools located in Latin American towns seeking UNESCO Heritage Site titles.

Lamia Bazir is the founder of Empowering Wo-men in the Atlas, a non-profit organization focused on community development and women’s empowerment. 

Dana Bekri is a member of the International Staff of the NATO Headquarters in Brussels. She is currently working in resource management for the NATO Security Investment Program, reinforcing the delivery of common-funded Alliance capabilities. 

Dubai based Technology entrepreneur and author, Mohamed is active in the cybersecurity space and in the entertainment industry. 

His cybersecurity companies VUL9 and Project Cypher work with public and private entities across the Middle East, Africa and North America in order to strengthen their resilience to cyber attacks and breaches using world class ethical hackers and advanced cybersecurity R&D.

Ali Belhaj Zahi is an entrepreneur and Tech enthusiast. He is a Co-founder and CEO at Evocraft, a Startup working on including Technology in Education and manufacturing the next-generation of Robots through the use of new technologies such as 3D Printing and Laser cutting.

Amal Benaissa is Sustainable Finance Manager at Bank of Africa - BMCE Group, a regional leader and pioneer in sustainable and inclusive finance. Part of the Bank’s Sustainability team, Amal’s work involves developing innovative financial products, services and partnerships that yield positive environmental and/or social impacts.

Zineb Benjelloun is currently the head of the water and utilities section in industrial development at OCP Group in Casablanca, Morocco. 

Linda Benkaiouche works in the public security field. Prior to becoming a civil servant, she worked as a project manager focusing on innovative technology and market research.

Touria Benlafqih is a young activist that focuses on the role of youth in poverty reduction and social inclusion in Africa. She has been involved with social entrepreneurship and empowerment of youth and women for the past 12 years.

Ali Bensouda recently became partner for strategy at Advanced Consulting in Morocco, prior to which he was manager of strategy and internal consulting at the OCP Group. 

Ryan Berger is currently a postgraduate student at Columbia University’s School of International and Public Affairs, where he is concentrating in international affairs and specializing in Latin American and African studies.

Bitania is an award-winning young leader with notable contributions toward the inclusion of youth and women in public policy at regional and global levels. She is currently the youngest Programme Director at Amref Health Africa Global Headquarters, leading the Y-ACT, Youth in Action initiative.

Reda Berrehili is the creator of startups including MixoTV and Tumbup. Réda is a veteran entrepreneur with experience across a variety of tech fields. Previously co-founder and CTO at Squarebreak.

He graduated with an MEng in Computer Science from INSA Lyon. Le Point has described him as a ‘French Mark Zuckerberg’ and the Challenge magazine as a 'Moroccan Mark Zuckerberg'. In 2015 he was made President of the Jury at La French Tech, a government-run entrepreneurship initiative.

Hanae is an impact tech entrepreneur and certified international project manager with 10 years of overall professional experience, including 5 years in social impact stewardship at a multi-award non-profit and 2 years of operational stewardship at a high growth tech startup.

Rukmani Bhatia currently serves as the special assistant to the assistant administrator for Europe & Eurasia at the U.S. Agency for International Development. 

After working for several years as a business consultant in major French consulting firms, Fatim-Zahra Biaz decided to become an entrepreneur in the start-up scene. She took part in a European project of coworking, a space to gather start-ups from across Europe. 

Andrew Bishop is Deputy Head of Research at Eurasia Group, the world's leading political risk consultancy.

Tony Bishop currently serves as a Senior Advisor in the Office of the National Cyber Director in the Executive Office of the President.  He previously served as the Deputy Policy Director for the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee (DCCC).  At the DCCC Tony wrote policy guidance for members of Congress and congressional candidates.